Sadiqeh Vasemghi Arrested and Transferred to Evin Prison After Visiting Revolutionary Court

Sadiqeh Vasemghi, an Islamic scholar and spokesperson for the first term of Tehran's City Council, who was previously temporarily detained upon her return to Iran, was arrested on Sunday after visiting the Revolutionary Court and transferred to Evin Prison. On October 15, she was detained for several hours at the airport by security forces upon her return to Iran but was released after a few hours. Security agents had asked her to report to the prosecutor's office at that time. According to the website Zeytoon, Vasemghi was arrested on Sunday, October 22, after appearing at the Revolutionary Court. The website reported that she was tried in a '12-minute court session' presided over by Judge Mohammad Mogheiseh, head of Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court, and a bail of '3 billion tomans' was set for her. According to this report, the bail was eventually reduced to 1 billion tomans, but because it was not secured, Vasemghi was arrested and transferred to Evin Prison. This report about Vasemghi's trial comes as she had previously stated in a letter to Hassan Rouhani that she had been tried in absentia on July 6, 2014, in Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court and sentenced to five years in prison. At that time, Vasemghi noted her decision to return to Iran, stating that 'the prevailing policy is to make those who return home regretful, a policy that has limited our freedom to a choice between silence, exile, and prison.' She emphasized, 'The 50s and 60s of life that my husband and I are in are not a season for enduring exile. On the other hand, given my physical condition and especially my severe visual impairment, enduring prison also seems difficult.' This writer and poet also mentioned in her letter that in 2011, after being invited by the University of Göttingen in Germany for a semester to teach in the Department of Islamic Studies, she left Iran, but after that, agents of the Ministry of Intelligence 'attacked' her legal office and 'searched the office with an arrest warrant, taking her personal belongings.' According to this letter, in 2010, the Ministry of Intelligence had also 'summoned and threatened' Vasemghi. In recent years, several political activists and Iranian journalists have been arrested and imprisoned after returning to Iran. Bahman Darolshafaee, Serajeddin Mirdamadi, Saeed Rezavi Faqih, Mostafa Azizi, Sajedeh Arab-Sorkhi, and Kazem Barjasteh are among those who have been arrested after returning to Iran. Additionally, the Iranian judiciary has sentenced several journalists, cultural activists, and political activists living abroad to prison in absentia. For instance, last February, Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court issued in absentia sentences against Googoosh, Nikahang Kowsar, Saeed Karimian, Marzieh Armin, Tara Inanlou, and several other Iranian figures abroad, published in the newspaper Hemayat, affiliated with the judiciary.